


here, go clear your name.

by veils



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst-Free, Background Sunaosa, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Kita and Bokuto are cousins, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Timeskip, Pre-Timeskip, background akakita
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27173566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veils/pseuds/veils
Summary: bokuto koutarou has a habit of saying i love you. miya atsumu has a habit of being smitten.
Relationships: Bokuto Koutarou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 4
Kudos: 77





	here, go clear your name.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [protagonists](https://archiveofourown.org/users/protagonists/gifts).



> hi! this is for ate christine! a lot of things have been going on, so i hope this cheers you up!
> 
> also, excuse my struggle to write fluff :")

"I love you."

"What?!"

The insufferable silence breaks through the atmosphere. Seven year old Bokuto Koutarou and six year old Miya Atsumu are currently sitting on a tree branch that is sturdy enough to support their weights. The latter nearly fell off when he heard his playmate say those three words like they're as effective as the cursed apple of Eve. But they aren't. 

"Why?" Koutarou asks, because he is very curious. There is an evident blush on Atsumu's cheeks, spreading and almost turning him into a tomato. Atsumu's expression distorts from bashfulness and sneering which makes Koutarou giggle. Emotions and knowing people are quite fascinating to him. Merely seeing how the curve and movement of Atsumu's face muscles already give off the impression of what emotion he's trying to show. 

“You’re not supposed to say those words randomly! You say them to family and those other people you love, like you want to marry them or something!” Koutarou’s jaw slacks in shock. His mother taught him that those three words can be said to anyone, as long Koutarou has a connection with them. He didn’t know it had limits at all. “Maybe you can try to express yourself using other words. Some people get overwhelmed when they hear those.”

“Other words?” Atsumu nods. 

Koutarou tries to understand what Atsumu meant by using other words. He’s always heard his grandma saying it’s pretty fine to say those three words, unless the receiver’s not used to that kind of thing. In this case, it’s Miya Atsumu, his neighbor, go-to playmate, whose brother is always found in the kitchen of Koutarou’s home with his own mother, exchanging cooking tips with each other. 

Due to lack of knowledge and fear of accidentally getting access to lewd stuff online ( he once tried to look for pirated movies online and got a porn site advertisement which made his mom batshit crazy ), he goes out of their house, greets his dad who just came home from work, and jogs toward the Kita residence. 

“Cousin? Obaa-chan?” He hollers, peeking his head through the window. Kita Shinsuke, his cousin, hears his voice and walks to the door holding an onigiri. “Hello, Shinsuke-kun!”

“Koutarou-kun, hey,” Shinsuke smiles. “Want some onigiri?”

They’re sitting beside each other on the couch, watching Gundam reruns. “Why’d you visit?” Asks Shinsuke, cheeks inflated as he takes a big bite of his snack. Koutarou glances at him and sports an awkward chuckle, knowing Shinsuke will probably find his question odd. “Well?”

“What other words can I use to express my love for someone? Words that won’t overwhelm other people?” Shinsuke frowns at him, just as he expected. “Aren’t you too young for that stuff?” Is the question that makes him turn to his cousin and laugh. “So are you! But Tsum-Tsum said I shouldn’t say I love you to random people.”

Shinsuke looks back at him with eyes that know something Koutarou doesn’t. The latter tilts his head out of confusion, but the former laughs awkwardly and says, “Ah, well, maybe Atsumu-kun just gets easily flustered. Unlike his twin brother, he’s more expressive I guess. Maybe you can use words that, well, shows the feeling that you care for that person.”

“You’re very smart, Shinsuke-kun!” Koutarou chirps. “Thank you!”

“Grandma’s lessons just normally get stuck in my head,” Shinsuke shrugs. “Glad I could help.”

The young boy wears a pout as he says goodbye to his friends. He’s moving to Tokyo with his family, leaving everyone in Hyogo permanently. They already sold their house to the Suna family, who will be moving on the day they fly to Tokyo, which is today. Osamu is pouting. He hugs Koutarou right after Shinsuke and Yumie, who gave their keepsakes for their relatives to bring to Tokyo with them as trinkets of memories. 

Atsumu refuses to hug Koutarou. His mother is getting mad because he is frowning. “He’s leaving, Atsumu. Have some respect.” He won’t budge, arms still folded under his chest. “Why are you being such a party pooper?” Osamu asks monotonously, sneering at his twin brother. 

“Because I don’t like Bokkun. He’s leaving me!” Atsumu throws a tantrum. “He is going to leave and I won’t ever see him again because Tokyo is a big city and he’ll find new friends. He’ll forget about me and you and Kita-san!”

His twin brother faces his palm in disappointment. His mother laughs and apologizes on behalf of her dramatic son. Koutarou cackles and walks up to Atsumu, wrapping his arms tightly around him. He earns a gasp for doing so, but that’s okay. He’s going to miss Atsumu the most. “ _I won’t disappear forever, Atsumu. You’ll always be my favorite friend._ ”

* * *

In high school, approximately nine years after his childhood, Atsumu is found with teammates, eating at a ramen house near their school campus. An empty bottle is being spun and the tip stops right in front of him, meaning he’s their target. “Truth or dare?” Suna Rintarou asks, smirking as if he has something up his sleeve. Atsumu chuckles and folds his arms under his chest, “This game is boring,” he complains instead of answering Rintarou’s question.

“It’s only boring because you’re being targeted,” Osamu butts in. Atsumu rolls his eyes at his brother and barks back, “Always defending Suna instead of your own brother. I’ll get back to you later. Hmp.” Then he sighs, slumping his back against the wooden wall. “Fine. Truth.” 

“Who’s your childhood crush?”

“All those romcom movies got into your head, huh?”

Aran and Shinsuke can only watch how childish they are with fond eyes. Aran, however, seems very intrigued to know who Atsumu’s childhood crush was. Maybe _is_ , if he’s still into them. Shinsuke and Osamu, the only ones who knew, exchange playful smirks at each other, acknowledging the privilege of knowing that secret beforehand. 

“If you make fun of me for my answer, I won’t give you my blessing when you get married to my brother,” Atsumu threatens.

“Stop spitting nonsense, Atsumu!” Rintarou and Osamu chorus, earning quiet laughter from others. Atsumu sighs heavily, dips his head down then looks up at them again. “Bokuto Koutarou of Fukurodani Academy—”

“Isn’t he the ace of the team we played against?” Aran asks. The twins and Shinsuke nod. “And his old house is actually our house now,” Rintarou tells, which makes Aran’s eyebrows rise. “He seems fond of his team’s starting setter, though,” Rintarou adds. 

Atsumu noticed that, of course he did. It was that moment, when he saw Koutarou, smiling at the sight of him across the net. He basked in every bit of the moment when the latter smiled at him. But he knew, due to their teams being opponents, that he grinned brighter with Akaashi Keiji. No matter how often he convinces himself what remains in the past, stays in the past, the opposite occurs. He tries, he always does, to forget and move on. Perhaps what really delays that is the fact he has an unresolved, unspoken fervent attraction to him that his small, six-year-old heart couldn’t bear on his own that what was supposed to be just a little flower became an entire garden. 

Whether his friends perceive and tease him for that, he can’t do anything about it. At the end of the day, he ends up enjoying what he shouldn’t.

_Maybe I should’ve let Bokkun say those three words to me even if our comprehensions of its meaning were different._

* * *

Years later, the universe, as per usual, plays the role of matchmaker and connects their paths together. It’s inevitable, since Atsumu and Koutarou chose the same career path and have always been dedicated to the sports they love. They’re in the same team, along with new and old faces. This time, Atsumu has decided to confess to Koutarou. He knows it’s safe to do so anyway. Apparently Keiji goes to Hyogo for someone else, and Atsumu knows this when he visited Shinsuke before he saw him kissing Keiji at the porch. He was envious that time.

Atsumu is, still and all, very nervous in terms of confessing. It’s not just the possibility of being rejected that bugs him. It’s _how_ he’ll confess. What if Koutarou doesn’t like guys? What if he makes a fool of himself… _again_? But he doesn’t care anymore. The two versions of his young self, the six-year-old and the fifteen-year-old, would have scolded him for wasting the third chance given to him. It’s not like everyday one earns another opportunity to overcome their past fears. This is his chance, the perfect timing, if you will. 

He remembers the time when he told Koutarou he could use other words to express his love for someone. How is he going to apply that to himself? It’s hard. Following advice is harder than suggesting it to others. 

This is how it goes.

Koutarou’s spike got the ball out of bounds, and even though it’s not obvious, he still felt devastated. Atsumu knows it’s normal for anyone to feel so. He takes the first step, hands hanging in the air, fingers lifting the ball and tossing it in a way its motion in air defies physics. “Here, go clear your name,” he says. The echo of his voice trails behind the ball as it reaches Koutarou. The latter flashes a monstrous grin as he spikes the ball so swift and hard, like a sword that can cut through a rock. 

The glimmer in Koutarou’s eyes when he heard those words was tender, more tender than it should really be. It was the tenderness when he realized Atsumu didn’t just see him as a wing spiker, as a teammate or friend. It’s beyond that. There’s unspoken understanding that _here, go clear your name_ is an example of using other words to express your love to someone. The understanding came to Koutarou naturally, just as if they were soulmates with telepathic apprehension.

“Tsum-Tsum,” Koutarou calls his name as he walks closer, hands on his hips. When Atsumu looks back at him, the same peach blush appears on his cheeks and all of a sudden, Koutarou feels nostalgic. “I feel like you’re supposed to say something to me.” It’s almost more taunting and provocative than just being a regular statement.

Atsumu plays along through his emotions bursting all at once inside his heart. He smirks and runs a hand through his damp, blond hair, saying, “Oh, what is it?” Koutarou laughs and positions himself after the rotation. “Later, Tsum-Tsum, can we go to Kokubuncho?”

“Why me?”

Koutarou winks. “You told me to express my love for someone, I can use other words. But what if I use actions instead? My treat.”

**Author's Note:**

> [my twitter :D](https://twitter.com/ecruirises)


End file.
